Department of Energy regional high school “Science Bowl” at USM March 3

Regional high school teams will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Science Bowl at the University of Southern Maine on Saturday, March 3, in Bailey Hall on the Gorham campus. Competitions begin at 8:30 a.m..

This is the first time the Science Bowl will be held in northern New England. The event at USM is hosted by USM’s Dept. of Environmental Science and Policy.

The public is invited to attend; there is no charge.

High schools competing at USM are: Bangor (Maine) High School (two teams); Lexington (Mass.) High School (two teams); Conval High School from Peterborough, N.H. (one team). There will be five rounds, done in a round-robin format with two teams competing in each round.

The Science Bowl is an annual competition for high school math and science students from public, private, and home-schooling programs around the nation. Last year, 60 regional competitions were held in which teams of four students answered questions dealing with astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, current events in the scientific community, computers, earth, and general sciences.

This year’s competitions mark the 11-year anniversary of the program which has challenged more than 70,000 students. Regional winners will win an all-expense-paid trip to compete in Washington, D.C., for the national title. The top two teams from the national competition will win monetary prizes for their schools, while the next five will receive trophies and other prizes.

Volunteers are needed March 3 at USM as moderators, science judges, rules judges, scorekeepers, timekeepers, and general helpers.

For more information on the regional event, or to volunteer to help, please contact Rob Sanford, professor of Environmental Science and Policy at 780-5756 or check out the Science Bowl Web site, http://www.sc.doe.gov.